History of Chiavenna

Already known in Roman times, the little town of Chiavenna had a remarkable importance in the early Middle Ages; after the thousand it became an independent municipalitu, although it was later submitted to the Bishopric of Como, passing then, in 1335, to the Visconti and Sforza.

Finally, it was under the Grisons until 1797. The present old town dates back to the sixteenth century, since the medieval town was destroyed by fire in 1486, and new city walls were built by Ludovico il Moro (1452-1508).

From the late eighteenth century it was the domain of the French, then the Austrians, coming first in the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1859 and then in the Kingdom of Italy (1861).

Etymology

About the etymology of Chiavenna, which the Romans called “Clavenna”, we must distinguish the traditional from the contemporary hypothesis; while the first, fairly intuitive, derived the name from Latin term" Clavis "(" key "), meaning the location a "key point" of the defence system against external invasions; in fact, Chiavenna is located near the “Splügenpass”, the "key" and "door" along the Alpine passes among Italy, Switzerland and Germany. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it was clear to all scholars that " nomen a 'Clave' venit", or "the name derives from the Latin 'Clave'" (See "Helvetia Antiqua et Nova", 1737, p. 285) .

The traditional positions were summed up by G. Devoto (“Tabulae Iguvinae”, Typis Regiae Officinae Polygraphicae, 1940, p. 356), who quoted this passage: "[...] 'Claverna’suffixi etrusci ope a themate 'Clave' tractum videtur, quod in Italia Septentionali nonnumquam invenitur, 'Clavenna' flumen, Clavenna urbs, 'Chiave' apud Cortina et similia, praeterea ep. Gentilicium nomen Clavius [...]", or "Claverna, a term that seems to stretch from the Etruscan root 'Clave', which is present everywhere in northern Italy, like the Chiavenna River, the city of Chiavenna, or 'Chiave' near Cortina and the like; the name also reflects the family name 'Clavius'. "

The current hypothesis, which go back to the studies of G. Devoto, seen in this name-place a Mediterranean root, "Clava", which, according to G. Devoto, means "place of an alluvial cone ," "Landslide," "stony" (See F. Formignani, “Parlarlombardo”: History and Reality of spoken Lombard, Ed. Del Riccio, 1978, p. 35). Today, this seems the most accepted etymology; in second order, also has good credentials that proposed by the Dictionary of C. Battisti-G. Alessio (Italian Etymological Dictionary ", Barbera, 1968, Vol II), which interprets the term 'Clava' to mean 'river delta' (See also A. Costanzo Garancini, “La Romanizzazione nel bacino idrografico padano attraverso l'odierna idronimia”, Florence, La Nuova Italia, 1975, p. 116). With the name of Chiavenna, interpreted as "river mouth" agrees also A. Polloni, for whom "Chiavenna has a relationship with the pre-Latin term 'Clava' ('river mouth')" (See “Toponomy of Romagna”, Olschki, 1966, p. 249)